Edmonton Trip 2014

It has been a while since you got a blog post from the Maclean family, but we promise it is only because we have been having so much fun that I haven't had time to post anything. It probably isn't a secret to most of my friends that my parents are no longer together but we still try to be a tight family as best as we can. My husband works for my Dad at Westside Automotive and since there are only 3 employees....plus I'm on maternity leave lol...we don't get much holiday time! My dad likes to plan day-trips for each of our birthdays as an excuse to get away and do something for "his" celebration of our birthdays. Since Scarlette's birthday is coming up next week he really wanted to take her back to Calaway park. She loved it the first time and I was stoked to take her a second time but then my Dad mentioned something about a long weekend and how we should just continue up to Edmonton. I kind of hijacked my Dad's birthday plans for her and decided to skip Calaway park and spend the weekend in Edmonton. I did a bunch of research about things we could do but we ended up doing what us Hendry's do best... SHOPPING. We left Lethbridge around 9AM on Saturday morning after a very healthy breakfast of Mcdonald's haha...and made it all the way to Nanton before the baby started screaming. I totally blanked and forgot to bring the breast pump...rookie mistake. We stopped in Nanton and then continued on our way. We made a goal to try to get to Red Deer before stopping for lunch but the baby woke up again right out of Calgary....Andrew was starting to wonder why we decided to put ourselves through this lol. Anyways, smart little me decided instead of stopping in Red Deer at the McDonalds with the play centre that we could stop at the nearest Mcdonalds. We were already past Airdrie by this point so I searched Mcdonalds on google maps and saw one in Didsbury. Andrew told me he didn't care about the screaming but that he wanted to make it to Red Deer. I told him that we might as well stop as soon as possible because the baby's crying is pretty distracting. He got off the QE2 and headed towards Didsbury..it took us about 10 minutes to get there and after driving through the very VERY little town of Didsbury we finally got to the McDonalds...or so we thought... I didn't see the Golden arches so Andrew turned around and we headed back to where the Map was telling us it was....as we turned the corner Andrew was like " NICK...are you kidding me?!..." turns out when I searched McDonald's on google maps it brought up "McDonalds Agencies" (an insurance company) and my Mom brain didn't realize it. OOPS. Needless to say my otherwise very even tempered husband was pretty mad LOL. Olds was about another 10 minutes up the road so we were able to grab some lunch without any casualties. The girls stretched out their legs and we walked through the co-op for some snacks. After we got in the car we were able to get all the way to Edmonton without anymore crying. We met my Dad, sister and brother at west edmonton mall and started looking around. The girls were NOT enjoying themselves after the long car ride so we thought we better go check into our hotel. Side note: when I booked this hotel and put it into google maps it swore to me that it was only a 7 minute drive from WEM but apparently I booked the downtown location, which was more of a 17 minute drive lol...Dad was only a little bit mad...for such a big man he is always so scared of being mugged or involved in a drive by shooting hehe. Anyways, we checked in and the girls both totally calmed down in the quiet hotel room. Scarlette watched some cartoons and Andrew and I relaxed for a bit. The kids wanted to go down to the pool so we all got our suits on and went for out first swim of the trip...I don't think our suits ever dried after that moment. We were the only ones at the pool which was FANTASTIC. The kids could be as loud as they wanted and get in and out of the hot tub and pool as they pleased. After swimming we all showered and got ready for dinner. Dad decided he wasn't as scared anymore so we convinced him to walk down a couple blocks to the BP's. We had an awesome dinner and chatted about how excited we were to go to the WEM waterpark the following day. We got back to the hotel and got the girls ready for bed. Lexi slept with me and Scarlette slept with Andrew. I don't know why but I had a really hard time sleeping that night, and I kept checking that both girls were doing ok. Lexi has been sleeping through the night for about 2 weeks so I swore with the change in location that she would wake up at any second to eat plus I was worried about Scarlette over by Andrew. At about 3 am I went over to check on her and she was close to the edge of the bed so I moved her in further...then around 6 am I heard a "kaboom" followed by some tears. It was kind of hilarious...Andrew jumped up so fast and I didn't want to wake Lexi so I figured he would get her but he could NOT get out of the covers...it was like watching him going in slow motion....Scarlette continued to cry and I seriously had to stop myself from laughing and thinking...well I guess that answered my question about whether or not she is ready for a big girl bed. Anyways, Andrew got her and she wanted a juice box so she drank a juice box and then sucked the empty juice box for another hour haha. I got up around 8:30 and went down for breakfast where I found my Dad and brother eating. It was SO nice to eat without either of the girls (though I love them to death)...you don't really enjoy a meal after having kids...you eat so fast so you can switch your husband and he can eat so fast...perhaps this is just life with little babies. After breakfast we headed out to the WEM waterpark. We got there right at 11AM so after getting changed (gong show) my Dad had saved us some awesome seats right off the wave pool. Andrew immediately took Scarlette into the wave pool which we both thought she would love but apparently she hated it! She is just about or more clumsy then I am so even the littlest wave would knock her over haha. We took the girls into the kiddie pool and they both loved it in there. Andrew forced Scarlette down the slide, which scarred her, so she wouldn't go down again. Everyone took turns with the babies...and by everyone I mean myself, Andrew and my angel sister Ciara. We all got to ride the water slides and everyone was having an absolute blast. My sister and I went up to these slides that you get into a launch tube and it drops you about 15 feet before you hit the slide...I totally chickened out though but she ended up going on it and said it wasn't that bad. As I did the walk of shame down the stairs, I stopped at this purple slide that looked pretty tame...turns out I was completely wrong!!! It was called Nessie's revenge for anyone who has been there before. I got my body in position with my arms and legs crossed and went shooting down that slide...each bump I got a TON of air and kept swallowing a crap load of water wondering when this freaking slide was going to end. In that moment I felt old, really old. I'm only 24 but I was so uncoordinated haha. Ciara and I also went on a green twisty slide that was pretty fun. My little brother convinced me to go on this blue slide that ends in a bowl...once you slow down enough you fall through the hole into the water. I tried, for the life of me, to get my legs facing downwards when I went through the hole but instead I went head first with my legs flailing behind me. Ughh.. the attendant was totally laughing at me...it must be a fun job to watch people fall out of that hole haha. About half way through the afternoon I put the babe in the stroller for a nap and Scarlette napped on my chest. Andrew, Dad and Brock went off for some more sliding fun...they were having a ball! We stayed at the waterpark till about 5pm when the girls started getting grumpy. Since it was Sunday (don't judge lol) the mall was closing at 6pm so we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We all went out to this really fancy Earl's downtown which was DELISH. Probably wouldn't take the girls again though...they were both really good but it was more of an adult restaurant (no highchairs or kids menus haha). We got back to the hotel and Andrew crashed with the girls while Ciara, Brock and I went back down to the pool. It was empty again. We went back and forth from the hot tub to the pool for a couple more hours and then we were ready for bed. When I got back up to the room, Andrew had been sharing some mini eggs with Scarlette. She kept asking him for more but he told her she already had enough. Apparently she had been stashing some extras behind her pillow because once Andrew told her no more she just moved her pillow and started eating the ones she had stashed...what a little stinker. Anyways, no falling off the bed occurred that night and we all got a good nights sleep after all that swimming. The following morning I had planned to go to the Telus Science centre but a lot of people at the mall had told us that it wasn't worth the money. So we skipped it and shopped some more. I got Scarlette the CUTEST birthday present from the Disney store and used a gift card I had been saving. Andrew got some new jeans and a few shirts. Around noon the girls were getting tired so we thought it was the perfect time to hit the road. We left Edmonton around 12:30 and made it to Red Deer before the baby started to cry. Grabbed some lunch and gas and was back on the road! We may have endured some crying coming into Lethbridge but we didn't stop again till we got home. Overall, it was well worth the drive! Everyone had so much fun and the girls were a lot better then what I expected they would be. I can tell that in years to come they will have more and more fun! Sometimes it is hard to be the Mom, after all I'm still pretty young to have two children already. I just wanted to run off with Andrew and do all the slides over and over again but when I think about the memories we are creating together it is totally worth it. We will probably never have the money to go off and do any tropical holidays but I will try my hardest to be able to take them on these road trips and make memories as a family. We LOVE Edmonton!! Here is a photo journal of our trip.

We're off to see the wizard! 

Finally asleep. 

Uncle Brockie

Mommy and her Girls

Auntie C.C. and Lex

Scarlette in the hot tub

Seriously, how beautiful is this girl!?!

Swimming at the hotel with Daddy

WEM Water Park- Grandpa Hendry and Auntie C.C.

I have the BEST sister in the world. She is always holding babies, wiping bums and buying little gifts for the girls.

Daddy and Scar in the wave pool.

Family Photo-Neither of the girls are looking haha.

My happy girl.

Hottie Husband Alert. 

Grandpa, CC, Brock and Lex. 

My husband is the BEST daddy ever. Those girls sure love him. 

My brother was so scared to go on this slide and chickened out the first time. I can't blame him, I did too lol! But he conquered his fear and was determined to go on it before we left. These pictures say it all. 

So Happy.

Dad Loved it too!

My Gorgeous Girl

I love me some sleeping babies!

Getting creative with my camera. 

This picture perfectly sums up these two girls and their totally different personalities. Scarlette is so introverted and quiet while Lexi is super friendly and smiley. Kind of funny seeing as Scarlette looks a lot like Andrew but identifies more with my personality and Lexi looks a lot more Hendry but is totally outgoing and happy-go-lucky like Andrew. 

We foresee many more family trips and couldn't feel more blessed to have these two little Sweethearts in our lives.